Electrifying
by 1Anonymous5
Summary: Rae davis is starting her first year at Sky High. How long can she stand the pressure with a moody best friend, bad senior mentors, and a villainous father?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any Sky High characters except for the Davis family.

This is my first story so please bear with me.

Whatever incident that happened between The Commander and Baron Battle has not happened yet, so Warren's father is still around.

Please Read and Review!


	2. Bus Ride

Rae Davis looked in the mirror one last time, smoothing what little frizz there was in her straight blonde hair and flattening the nonexistent wrinkles out of her blue skirt. She sighed, pleased with her appearance for the first day of high school at Sky High. She stole one more glance at her thin frame in the mirror and smiled, but she couldn't ignore the butterflies in her stomach.

"Rae, you're gonna be late," her mother yelled up from the kitchen.

"I'll be down in a minute, mom," Rae answered, her voice shaking a little; calmness wasn't one of her strong points. She walked down the stairs, grabbed an apple from the bowl on her table, said goodbye to her mom and step-dad, and walked to the bus with her sketchbook in her hands.

"Just relax," she told herself. Actually, Rae had no reason to worry so much, she was pretty sure that no one would bother her. You know why? Because she was friends with Gwen Grayson. Well they weren't really friends; Gwen was just trying to turn Rae into a clone, so they've hung out before. Elise, Rae's freshman-in-college sister, was friends with Gwen last year, and they all thought Rae was _so cute _and _just like Gwen; _so Gwen and Penny were going to make Rae just like Gwen.

Rae got calmed down when she saw someone she knew at the bus stop: Layla. "Rae!" Layla yelled when she noticed her.

"Hey, Layla," Rae said, smiling while Layla ran up to her and pulled her into a hug.

"Rae, this is my best friend, Will Stronghold; Will this is Rae Davis, we've known each other for, like, ever," Layla said. Rae noticed how softly Layla said Will's name and smiled at her. "Our moms are friends," Layla explained, seeing Will's still-confused face.

"Stronghold, huh?" Rae asked, giving Will a once-over, seeing if he was good enough for Layla; he nodded slowly. "You got some big shoes to fill."

Will let out a snort: "You have no idea." He said quietly.

The bus pulled up moments later and the three walked slowly in. Rae walked up the steps and Layla followed, Will behind her. "Is this the bus to Sky High?" he asked.

The bus driver quickly pulled the bus door shut: "Do you want every villain in town to hear?" Will looked around stupidly. "What's your name, freshman?"

"Will Stronghold," Will said quietly, and the bus driver, who introduced himself as Ron Wilson, Bus Driver, freaked out and introduced Will to the entire bus, then made the kids in the first seat get up so Will and Layla could sit down. Rae looked at Layla and shrugged, finding a seat near the middle of the bus.

"Hey," a nerdy-looking boy said as he sat next to her, "I'm Larry." He then took off his glasses for emphasis.

"Rae," she said quickly and turned towards the window. The rest of the ride to school was pretty boring . . . except for the fact that the bus drove off a bridge and started to fly. After that little fiasco, the bus landed, and there it was, floating high above the ground: Sky High.

The first sight that met their eyes was one cheerleader, split into six, making pyramids and cheering to the freshmen. The entire student body was watching the freshmen as they were herded to the stairs by Lash and Speed. Rae watched, thankful she was in the middle of the group, as one boy stretched out his hand to ask for the 15 dollar new student fee; one boy argued with him and then, as always, Gwen Grayson came to the rescue.

Rae's eyes narrowed as she watched Gwen get the attention of every boy at the school. Everyone probably thinks that Rae worships Gwen. . .wrong. Rae hated Gwen, but she couldn't let anyone know. But she didn't hate her because she was popular or perfect or anything along those lines, no, she hated her because in all reality she was a cold, heartless bitch.

She may put up the façade that she's this perfect, prissy girl but really she was manipulative and loved to try to turn people into something they're not, and then she just makes situations worse. Rae's the only one who's witnessed this side of her. Rae knows what Gwen's capable of because she's seen it first hand with her sister, Elise.

Last year, Elise and Gwen became friends (mistake #1), they were friends up close but Elise always complained about Gwen behind her back (mistake #2), Gwen found out and completely ruined Elise's senior year for her. There were rumors and pranks pulled on Elise, she was always picked for Save the Citizen with someone who wouldn't do anything so she'd end up getting hurt.

Now, it was really Elise's fault for talking about Gwen but Rae still hated her. Now Elise moved away, is in college despite her awesome powers, and hasn't called in months. She wants to remove all memories of Sky High out of her brain. That's why Rae hated Gwen, because now Elise barely ever talks and she's changed now. She used to be nice and sweet, but once Gwen stopped being her friend, she became friends with the kids from the local high school who kind of turned her in the wrong direction, now she just wants a fresh start.

But anyway, Rae couldn't express her feelings about Gwen because A) Gwen really hadn't done anything to make Rae hate her personally, B) Rae is a pacifist, and C) Rae's freshman year would be living hell.

The movement of the group around her pulled Rae out of her daze. The freshmen were led into the gym where Principal Powers told them about Power Placement. A man in short gym shorts then came in, introduced himself as Coach Boomer aka Sonic Boom. Everyone turned towards the door as they heard loud footsteps approaching. Principal Powers then came in with the entire student body following her and sitting on the bleachers.

"Oh, this is gonna be _fun,_" Rae said.


	3. Power Placement

"What are they doing here?" Ethan wondered aloud with about 15 other confused students.

"When I tell you," Coach Boomer started, "you will come up to the platform and show your powers," the students groaned. "Yes, you will do this in front of the entire class," Boomer answered the groan. "And we'll start with you." He menacingly pointed to Larry, the nerdy boy from the bus this morning. "What's your name?"

"L-Larry,"

"Well then, Little Larry, let's see what you got." Larry stepped onto the platform and turned into a gigantic rock monster. "Wow," Boomer said and wrote down on his clip board. "Big Larry: Hero."

Zack then pushed his way up the platform and made a big deal about his powers which turned out to be the ability to glow. He was a sidekick of course. The other students' powers were acid spit, turning into a ball, shape shifting into a guinea pig, melting, and Layla's powers which she refused to demonstrate. The bell rang for lunch and Boomer said that they would resume after lunch starting with Will Stronghold. He looked absolutely terrified.

Everyone got up, their audience looking rather bored, and headed to the cafeteria. Rae lost Layla and Will in the lunch line; she exited the line and stood at the front of the cafeteria, alone. She scanned the floor, looking for Layla's table, but instead, her eyes spotted none other than her band mate and best friend, Warren Peace. She started toward his table when Layla called her name from the table right behind him.

Rae walked past his table and he looked up as she passed. She smiled, he nodded, a small smile on his face.

"Hey guys," Rae said as she sat in between Zack and Ethan.

"Hey," Layla said, smiling. "Guys, this is Rae. Rae, this is Zack, Magenta, Ethan, and you know Will." They all murmured their greetings which Rae returned with a smile. She looked over to Will, who hadn't said anything, he looked like he was gonna be sick.

"Will," Rae started. "Are you okay?" He nodded and put his head down.

Zack started complaining about Coach Boomer's placement choices. "You got a problem with my decisions?" said Coach Boomer's voice from behind Zack.

"Uh," Zack stammered, "no, no problem at all." He let out a nervous laugh.

"No what?" Boomer asked threateningly.

"No. . . sir. No, sir." Zack finished, looking more scared by the second. Then 'Coach Boomer' turned into a tall, geeky boy who flattered his way into being a hero (for the story's sake I'm gonna call this boy Ryan). "I'm just messing with you, Zacky," the boy said, and walked away.

"You're not supposed to use your powers outside the school gym!" Ethan yelled after him. Zack, embarrassed, turned back to his lunch.

"Rae," Zack said, trying to take the attention away from himself, "What's your shtick?"

"My what?"

"What's your deal, what do you do?" Rae still looked confused. "What's your power?"

"Oh," Rae laughed. "Well I actually have a couple." Rae looked up at their waiting faces and began. "Alright," she started. "Keep up 'cause I'm only gonna say this once:" She had told this to so many people already it was starting to get annoying, but she didn't mind so much anymore. "So I got this first one from my grandma: sometimes I get these visions of what's gonna happen to people that I'm close to, like my family and friends of course. But they only come in bits and pieces; I mostly get them as dreams. Mostly they show me if something big is going to happen in someone's life."

"That better not be the one you're showing to Boomer," Magenta said, laughing.

"Not exactly," Rae smiled. "Well this next one I get from my mom," Rae started, pulling sketchbook out of her oversized purse. "I can think of a situation and draw it out, and I just have to date it and put the time and at that time, whatever I drew will happen." Magenta opened her mouth to say something but Rae cut her off—"Don't' worry, I'm not showing him this power either. You'll see my good power in Power placement." She said, watching their anxious faces.

"So with this one," she said, gesturing to her sketchbook, "I can't change something that's already happened."

"What do you mean?" Asked Will, finally picking up his head.

"Like if someone died, I can't draw them being alive again . . . I have no idea how to tell the difference if they're dead or alive in a drawing anyway." Rae was surprised at how interested they all looked, so she decided to elaborate even more. "Or a life-changing event; I can't change stuff like that."

"That's pretty sweet," Zack said, an idea popping into his head. "Can you show us something?"

"Um sure, I guess," Rae said, thinking of what she could do. She had an idea when she noticed how nervous Will looked. A grin spread across her face and she started sketching. Sketching the whole cafeteria and the event that she thought would cheer Will up took about 7 minutes. Her finished drawing was Coach Boomer walking into the middle of an enormous food fight started by none other than Gwen Grayson. She didn't show anyone the drawing but she put today's date on it. She checked the clock and saw that it was 12:25 so she added the time 12:27 on the top and waited the agonizing 2 minutes.

Once 12:27 hit, Gwen leaped out of her seat and threw everything she had on her tray at the unsuspecting Coach Boomer. Everyone soon joined in, including Will. During that fiasco, Warren Peace, not wanting to be hit by flying food, stood up and walked out of the cafeteria, playfully smacking Rae in the back of the head as he passed by. She laughed, stood up, and turned to see the rare site of Warren Peace smiling.

At 12:28 the madness stopped. Coach Boomer, at a loss for words (another rare site) angrily stormed out of the cafeteria. The students then filed out of the cafeteria, not being hit by any of the food aimed at Coach Boomer, happily chatting. Everyone moved back into the gym for the second half of Power Placement. Principal Powers was waiting for them, she didn't look happy.

They spent an hour listening to Principal Powers' speech about them being 'young adults' and 'more respectful' and 'how disappointed she is.' Coach Boomer rejoined them after calming down quite a bit. "You," he said, pointing at Will. Will took a deep breath and stepped up to the platform.

His Placement was a catastrophe, to say the least. It turns out that the son of The Commander and Jetstream didn't have any powers. What a world. Boomer tried to test his strength by dropping a car on him, he almost crushed him. He then tried to make him fly, he just flung him into the wall. Layla helped him up and walked him to the nurse.

Rae was called up almost last. "Blondie," Coach Boomer called and she nervously stood on the platform. "Name?" Boomer asked.

"Rae Davis."

"Power?"

"Lightning," she said, deciding against wasting her breath telling him about her other powers.

"Car." As soon as the words left Coach Boomer's mouth, Rae felt electricity surge through her body. In a split second, she concentrated the electricity in her fingertips and fired a bolt of lightning at the car, which exploded into pieces around the gym.

She looked up and saw Coach Boomer nodding. "Hero." He said. Rae happily jumped off the platform. Power Placement ended soon after and the kids had enough time to attend their first class. 'Hero History' was at the top of Rae's class list.


	4. Making Plans

So yeah, Hero History was the most boring class in the school. There, however, was an upside: everyone had to take the class, so it was half heroes and half sidekicks; so Rae and Layla suffered through it together. The rest of the gang was in Hero Support with Mr. Boy (fun times, I know).

On the bus ride home, Rae realized that she was actually accepted with these people. The six of them were a group: Rae, Layla, Will, Zack, Magenta, and Ethan; she had never had a tight-knit group of friends. Even though they were all sidekicks and Rae was the hero, it was just fine. Poor Will was worrying himself sick about what his dad would say.

"I can't believe we have homework already," Rae complained as they walked off the bus. Everyone groaned with agreement.

"What class did you guys have?" Layla asked everyone except Rae.

"Hero Support," Zack said, sounding depressed.

"Sounds like fun," Rae said, elbowing Zack.

"You have no idea."

"How about you guys?" Ethan asked, his Hero Support book open in his hands.

"Hero History," Layla said. Rae snored in the background. They talked about their classes until they reached Rae's house; she broke off from the group and searched for her key in her purse.

"Oh, wait," Will said. "You guys wanna come over tonight and get started on some of this work?" everyone nodded in agreement. "How about you, Rae?"

"Um," she thought for a moment. "I have band practice until 5:00-ish,"

"You're in band?" Zack asked, laughing.

"I'm in _a _band."

"What kind of band?"

"A rock band," she said. "But look, I have to go call my mom so what time should I be there?"

"Is 6:00 good?"

"Yeah, sounds great." They left and Rae unlocked the door and stepped inside of her dark and empty house. Sighing, she turned on all the lights and found her golden retriever, Muffin, waiting anxiously by the back door to go outside.

She let Muffin outside, threw her history book on the kitchen table and grabbed an apple out of the basket. She hoisted herself onto the counter and picked up this morning's newspaper; the headline read _Commander and Jetstream Save Maxville from Giant Robot._ "Poor Will," she thought aloud. "He has such big shoes to fill." She set the paper down, picked up the phone, and dialed her mother's work number.

The familiar voice of the secretary came after two rings: "Good afternoon, Phillips and Henderson Law Offices,"

"Hi," Rae said, sounding overly polite. "Can I please speak to Margaret?"

"One moment, please."

A short pause: "This is Margaret, how may I help you?"

"Hi, mom," Rae said, picking at the newspaper.

"Rae!" she practically screamed. "So?"

Rae sighed, "I got Hero!"

A relieved sigh came from the other end of the line, followed by: "You broke the curse, baby! You're the first woman in this family to be a Hero; I'm so proud of you."

"Don't get all mushy on me, mother," Rae said, smiling. "But thanks. Well I have to go 'cause I have band practice at Warren's and after that I'm going over to Will Stronghold's house to work on some homework."

"Will Stronghold?"

"Yeah, he's friends with Layla; I met him at school today."

"Oh, I see."

"It's nothing, mom, but I really have to go," Rae said, she still had to call Warren to work out band practice schedules.

"All right, well I'll see you tonight."

"Kay, bye, mom." She hung up the phone and threw away her apple core. The clock on the wall said that it was 3:11; they usually practice at 3:30. Rae leg up a sigh and picked up the phone again and dialed Warren's number. "Hey, War," she said when he finally answered.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Are we having practice today?"

"I don't think so," he sounded frustrated. "Chris is sick and Ryan got himself grounded."

"Already?" she sighed. "It's starting early this year, huh?"

"Big time."

"What'd he do?"

"He set off the fire alarm at his school," Warren said, Rae could hear that he was smiling.

"Jeez, what an asshole," she said, earning a laugh from Warren. "Well, now my afternoon's free," Rae had a hint of happiness in her voice this time.

"Well, I don't have work 'til 5:30," Warren said. "Why don't you head over, we'll take a walk or something?"

"Sure, sounds good." Rae hung up the phone and went to her room. She traded in her blue skirt and flats for skinny jeans and flip flops. She put her Hero History book in her backpack, threw in her keys and her phone and walked over to Warren's.


	5. Fun Times

**Thanks for the comments guys!**

Rae walked through the front of the Paper Lantern, said hello to Warren's mom, and headed upstairs to their apartment above the restaurant. She knocked on the door: "Warren?" she called after minutes of silence. She turned the knob and the door opened easily. "War?" She called, looking around the dark 2 bedroom apartment. She walked over to his couch and plopped down, sighing. "Warren?!" she yelled.

Warren was hiding right behind the couch. He silently stood up, lowered his head right behind Rae's ear, and said: "Boo." Rae yelped a little and jumped off the couch. Warren was shaking with laughter. It was amazing that something so simple could be so funny.

She shakily stood up, having had bad knees for the past 10 years; Warren took her hand and pulled her up. After she was steadily standing, she pried Warren's arm off of her and punched him lightly on the shoulder. "You jerk!" she laughed, picking her backpack. He gave her an apologetic, though still laughing, look and she started walking out the door. "You're such an ass." She added, joining in on his laughter.

They walked to their usual spot, the lake just outside of Maxville, still laughing for half the walk. Ever since they have been friends, they've been taking this half-hour-long walk to the lake probably once a week. This is the first time they've walked there in a long time.

Rae looked up at Warren's laughing face and had a strong urge to kiss his lips, but she shook it away. She'd had feelings like this before: a lot during this past summer she'd wanted to be closer to him, but she never pursued trying to win his attention. "I bet no one in school has ever seen you like this," she said, pushing her thoughts away.

"Like what?" he asked, still smiling.

"Not miserable," he suddenly stopped smiling; a completely serious and slightly angry look replaced it. Rae looked up at him, a small smile on her face which soon turned into another burst of laughter. "People just think you're a big scary antisocial pyro."

"How do you know, you've been there for one day?" Warren asked, pushing back the leaves on some small trees on the path to the lake. They walked through the path to the familiar sight of the beautiful blue lake.

"But seriously," she said as they sat by the lake's surface. "Why do you have to be Mr. 'I'll-Roast-You-Alive'?" She picked up a flat rock and skipped it twice across the surface of the water. "It's just not you," Warren followed, skipping his rock six times, like a pro. "But how does this sound:" she started, Warren groaned; she gave him this speech many times before. "What if people saw you like this . . . friendly? laughing? happy? What would they think?" she asked mockingly, taking off her flip flops. She sat down and set her small feet in the water, loving how the ripples formed by her feet.

"Are you done?" Warren asked, sitting down next to her, shoes still safely on his feet.

"Not quite, gimme a minute," she put her head in her hands, and continued. "Why are people afraid of you?" He didn't voice an answer, just lit his hand on fire and put it towards her face, a look of 'are you serious?' plastered on his face. She splashed water on his hand, extinguishing the flame. "And yes, I'm serious," she answered the look.

"Because of my father," he started slowly. "Rae, you know this already, why are you asking?"

"But Warren," Rae started, "no one else knows about your father."

"Everyone knows!" he stood up and started pacing. "He's a famous villain; everyone knows who Baron Battle is." Rae looked at him sympathetically. "Just because he hasn't done anything in awhile . . . you know it's coming, Rae." They sat in silence for a few moments. "You're lucky," he said, standing up again, "people don't know who your father is."

"They will soon," Rae said, planning on explaining her story at Will's tonight.

"What, you other little freshmen friends don't know?" Warren asked, his mood lightened a little at the fact that no one knows about her father but him.

"Well, they're gonna have to know," Rae said, walking up the path away from the lake. "I'm going over to Will Stronghold's house with the rest of the gang to work on some homework at six, so maybe I'll feel talkative and fill them in on everything." Rae looked at Warren, a small smile on her face.

"You're doing homework already?" He laughed.

"What can I say?" she said, walking backwards to face him. "I'm an overachiever."

"Freshmen," he muttered, shaking his head.

They walked back through Maxville in a lighter mood, talking about power placement and their first classes. They walked back to the Paper Lantern and Warren stopped outside the door, getting a key out of his pocket.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Rae started walking away.

"Bye, Rae-Rae," Warren said, using the nickname he gave her when he was ten.

"Bye, War," smiling, Rae started to walk home.

She got home and her clock read 5:45; she had just five minutes to clean herself up before she made the ten minute trek to Will's house. She pulled her long blonde hair up in a ponytail, gave Muffin some food, and started walking to Will's. About halfway there, she met Layla along the way. "Hey, Rae," she said, seeing Rae's confused face. "I was just coming to get you."

"Aw, you're such a doll," Rae said, pinching Layla's cheek. Layla slapped her hand away and the two friends shared a long laugh. The two were quite the pair: Layla, tall, red-haired, and hippie-ish, and Rae, shorter, bleach blonde hair, and preppie/punk. They weren't best friends, but they were sure close to it.

They got to Will's house and waltzed right through the front door. Zack, Magenta, and Ethan were already sprawled out on the floor, books open, frantically writing. "Hey guys," Will said, walking out of the kitchen with a bowl of chips in his hands.

"Hey," Layla said and Rae just smiled. They sat down and opened their Hero History books.

"So, how's Hero Support?" Rae asked, taking some chips from the bowl. She got a groan from Zack and a scared look from Will. "I see."

"We're not even allowed to pick our own names," Zack said, clearly depressed that he couldn't claim 'Zack Attack.'

"So how was your band practice?" Magenta asked, staring blankly at her book.

"Well, we didn't actually practice today," she started. "Our guitarist Chris is sick and our dumbass drummer Ryan is grounded already."

"So what'd you do all by yourself?"

"Oh, I wasn't by myself; Warren Peace and I took a walk, like we always do when Ryan does something stupid." Rae laughed. "What?" she asked when they were all staring at her.

"You hang out with Warren Peace?" Ethan asked, disbelievingly.

"Uh-huh," she said absentmindedly. "He's, like, my best friend."

"I didn't know he had any friends," Magenta laughed.

"I know, it's weird," Rae said, staring down at her book. "He's not the same outside of school; he's actually kind of fun."

"Never saw that coming," Zack said.

"How long have you guys been friends?" Layla asked.

Rae took a moment to think it over. She set her book down on the floor and put her hands in her lap. "Story time." She said with a smile. "If you guys are gonna be friends with me, there's some stuff you need to know, so I'll give you some history first." They looked a little confused. "Don't' worry, it all ties together. So," she started, nervous about what they would think. "You know my lightning power?" They nodded. "What famous villain does that remind you of?"

They sat for a minute, silent, when Ethan blurted out: "Thunder Hawk?"

Rae nodded slowly, "That's my dad."


	6. Explanations

Layla looked confused. "But Rae—"

"That guy that lives at my house," Rae started, smiling. "is my step-dad." Rae started playing with the bracelet on her left wrist, a nervous habit. "My mom married Erik Givens, aka Thunder hawk, right out of high school because she was pregnant with my sister. My mom had always been good friends with Warren Peace's mom, so soon after I was born, we were always together. After a little while, Erik started working with Baron Battle on some 'secret plans.' Erik started getting really shady," Rae laughed at her choice of words. "He was always angry and then he started being abusive when my mom would ask him things he didn't want her to know, so they separated. Erik still lived in our house 'cause they weren't divorced. Erik would always be planning something with Baron Battle so I was always around Warren, which is why we're friends. These little shenanigans went on from when I was 2 until I turned 10. My parents finalized their divorce when I was 10-ish." She said. "I haven't seen Erik since," she didn't know why she lied about that, but it seemed right.

"And I thought my life sucked," Will said, lightening the mood.

"Well this work's not gonna do itself," Ethan grabbed his Hero Support book and started writing. Layla and Rae had finished their easy history assignment and started helping the others with their Hero Support questions.

"Question 17:" Layla read from the book. "Your hero is down," Zack cheered. "What do you do?

Try to revive them

Take them into safety

Fight the opponent yourself

None of the above."

"Definitely C, baby," Zack said, jotting down his answer.

"Don't be stupid, Zack," Magenta said. "How could you fight anyone off when all you do is glow?

"Ladies!" Rae yelled over the bickering. They finished the assignment, starting a few more fights, before Steve and Josie Stronghold waltzed through the front door.

"Hi, kids," Josie said as she went upstairs. Steve was about to head into the kitchen when Ethan stopped him: "Hello, sir. May I just say that it's such an honor to meet you, I was wondering, is it true that you—"

Steve put up a hand to silence the enthusiastic child. "What's your name, son?"

"Ethan, sir, I melt." He explained proudly.

"Hey, dad," Will greeted. He introduced The Commander to all of his friends: "You know Layla and Ethan now; that's Zack, Magenta, and Rae."

"What are your powers?" Steve asked, looking at the unimpressive bunch.

"I glow," Zack said proudly.

"I can control lightning," Rae said shyly when he directed the question to her.

"I can shape shift," Magenta sounded bored. Steve looked impressed, and then Magenta added: "Into a guinea pig." The impressed look was gone.

"I'm going to make a sandwich, anyone want any?" Steve asked the kids. Everyone shook their heads. "Will, why don't you give me a hand?" They walked into the kitchen, Will glanced nervously over his shoulder. "They've really lowered their standards for Hero, huh?" Steve asked, mainly to himself, as he started making a sandwich.

Will laughed uncomfortably, "Um dad," he looked aimlessly around the kitchen. "They're not all heroes . . . actually Rae's the only hero."

"Steve looked lost, then nodded approvingly: "So you're giving the sidekicks a little Hero-help, eh?" He laughed. "That's my boy."

"Uh," Will sighed. "Look, dad," Will tried to build up courage but just ended up blurting out his confession very quickly. "I'm a sidekick."

"What?" Steve asked, thinking he must have heard his son wrong.

"I'm a sidekick," Will said slower.

**"What?!" **Steve was furious. **"BOOMER!" **He picked up the phone and started dialing but broke the phone into pieces. He opened a drawer and pulled out another phone.

"Dad?" Will asked, confused.

"He was nothing during high school and now he thinks he's gonna take it out on my kid!" he wanted to justify the reason more to himself than to Will. He started to dial the phone, calmer this time, but Will pulled it out of his hand.

"It's not Coach Boomer," he said, feeling more scared than before. "I don't have any powers," Will said quietly. Steve stopped. He looked at Will; pain was clear on his face. He shook his head slowly, and walked out of the kitchen and into the secret sanctum, where he stayed for the rest of the night.

Rae got up and walked into the kitchen. Will was sitting at the table, his head in his hands. She sat in the chair next to him. "You okay?"

"I'm good," he stood up and silently turned to Rae. She wrapped her arms around him and he returned the gesture.

"Come on," Rae said, walking to the door. "Before Zack eats all the food." Will laughed and they went back to the living room. They finished their work, barely saying a word.


	7. Happiness is

Over the next week, things had slightly gotten back to normal at the Stronghold house. Steve wasn't furious anymore, Josie was understanding, and Will still showed no sign of getting powers. Poor Will had to suffer through all of the negatives of being a sidekick, but at least he had friends to suffer with. Rae was almost completely alone on her journey to become a hero. She had Layla in her Hero History class, and that was it. Fortunately, Warren was in her Mad Science class. Unfortunately, so were Gwen and Penny and Speed and Lash. It was Hell.

Mr. Medulla's classroom had 10 tables and two seats to each table. Whoever you sat at a table with was your lab partner for half a year; and you didn't get to choose who you wanted to sit by. Rae sat at one of the tables in the middle row with Gwen (surprise, surprise), the table to her left was Lash and Penny, and the table to her right was Speed and Warren. Not good.

Over the first few classes, they learned the components of rays and beams, starting assembling them, and had to tell the difference between the two. One day after Rae and Gwen had successfully made a freeze-ray (without using Gwen's powers), Gwen was rambling on about Homecoming, even though it was months away. Rae was pretending to listen, and just about to pass out, when Mr. Medulla came over to their desk.

"Miss Grayson," he said. "Would you mind giving Mr. King a hand?" He motioned to a boy in the back with a smoking ray gun in his hands.

"Sure, Mr. Medulla," she answered with a teacher's pet perfect smile.

Rae sighed in relief as Gwen went to help the boy. She was just about to head over to Warren's table when she heard a crash. Speed finished the freeze ray and used it on Warren. He thawed himself out then aimed his fire at Speed, who was saved by Mr. Medulla. "Mr. Peace!" he yelled, "Detention!" Warren started to argue. "And your grade for the day-D" Warren was steaming. "Minus," he added. Warren stormed out of the room and Rae felt a tap on her right shoulder. She turned around and no one was there. She shrugged and jumped when she turned and saw Gwen's empty seat was now filled.

"Jesus Christ," she said.

"Well people do call me that," Lash said, flipping through Rae's sketchbook.

Rae laughed, "You scared me." She explained.

"Sorry," Rae's stomach flipped at his perfect white smile. He was staring at a picture in her book. "Did you draw all of these?"

"Uh-huh," she said, trying to sound confident. Rae hadn't had much experience with boys in her life. Despite the fact that she was gorgeous, she was horribly shy. She'd had one real 'date' in her life and it was with a boy who, thankfully, her mother scared off.

"That's really good," he pointed to her first finished drawing in the book: a girl standing on a rock with a wave crashing behind her. "Who's the girl?"

"My sister," She said, smiling of the memory of their last vacation, 2 years ago.

"Nice."

"Thanks," she blushed.

"How long have you been drawing?" he asked, genuinely interested.

"As soon as I was out of the womb," she said, he laughed. And that was the start of it all. They talked for what seemed like hours, even though in reality it was only for 20 minutes. The bell rang and Lash gave Rae her sketchbook back.

Rae started walking down the hallway when Lash yelled. "Hey!" she turned around, smiling. "You got a name?"

"Rae," she said, her heart fluttering.

"Cool," he said, showing his perfect smile again. "I'm Lash."

She nodded. "See you tomorrow, Lash."

Band practice was weird today. For once Rae was spacey and unfocused and Ryan was actually serious. "Rae, what's wrong with you?" Ryan asked, sitting at his drum set.

"I had a good day," she said. She couldn't keep from smiling. She shook out her hands and picked up her guitar. "I'm ready, I swear."

Ryan hit his drum sticks together four times; they were working on their cover for 'Broken' today. Warren on lead guitar, Rae on rhythm and vocals, Chris on bass and vocals, and Ryan on drums; they made a pretty sweet band, when everyone was focused, which no one was. So they stopped early.

"Why are you so happy?" Chris asked Rae while he put his bass away.

"I have a date on Saturday," she said, actually she yelled it. Lash had called her before band practice and they made plans.

Warren stiffened when she said that. "With who?" he asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Lash," Warren dropped his case. "What?" she asked. Warren just shook his head.

"Who's Lash?" Ryan asked, walking over to Rae.

"He's a senior in our school." Warren spat.

"He's--" Rae started.

"An asshole." Warren interrupted.

"What the hell?" Who was he to say that? "You don't even know him."

"No," Warren said. "_You_ don't know him."

"Warren-"

"Whatever," he picked up his guitar case and walked outside. "I have to go to work."

"What's his problem?" Rae asked Chris and Ryan.

"He's jealous," Chris answered simply. Rae thought about this for a minute then cleared her head. He was probably just in a bad mood.


	8. Green Eyed Monster

**Thanks for all of the reviews!**

Rae's life had taken a strange turn over the next few weeks: she had been willingly hanging out with Gwen Grayson because she Lash were a couple now. And guess what? he actually seems sincere. Bad thing is, Warren hasn't spoken to Rae since that last band practice. They had had one practice after that and Chris and Ryan couldn't handle the tension. They called off practices until Rae and Warren started 'acting their ages, not their shoe sizes.'

Rae was really getting sick and tired of getting the cold shoulder from Warren just because he didn't like Lash. Warren had gone out with tons of girls that Rae didn't like, but she sucked it up and tried to be nice. She decided she was going to pay him a little visit: He's been working the late shift at the Paper Lantern on Friday nights for as long as Rae can remember; she'll go in late when there's no customers and he'll have to talk to her. He'd have no excuse not to.

"Why do you care what he thinks?" Lash asked Rae one night while they were sitting on the roof outside Rae's bedroom window.

"I can't let our lifetime friendship end over a guy," she said simply. "No offense." She added.

It was 9:00 on Friday night and Rae made her way to the Paper Lantern. She walked in and sat down in a booth; the restaurant was deserted, to say the least. "Hello, Rae," Warren's mother said as she brought her over a menu. "Haven't seen you in a while," she said with a smile.

"Well you know how school is," Rae said. "I've been swamped with homework," she lied.

"Well, what would you like to order?" she asked, pulling out a pen.

"The usual," Rae said, staring at the flame coming out of the candle on the table.

"Do you want to see Warren, too?"

"Please," she said. "I really need to talk to him." She nodded and took Rae's order to the kitchen. Rae sat back in the booth and remembered her and Warren's 'tradition.' She used to visit him late ever Friday night, after the high school football games; they would split an order of sweet n' sour chicken. Since they went to different schools when they did this, it was the only time they could hang out.

There was a small argument in the kitchen and Warren angrily walked out of the kitchen, set Rae's order on the table, and started walking back.

"Hey!" Rae yelled. Warren stopped, but didn't turn back. "Can we talk?"

"I'm busy," he said, still not turning to face her.

"Bullshit." Rae said, motioning to the empty restaurant. "What's with you?" she asked, clearly offended by the fact that he wasn't going to stay.

He took a deep breath and turned towards Rae. "Hold on," he said as he walked back to the kitchen. He came back out after a small conversation with his mom, looking slightly calmer. He walked over to the table and sat across from Rae. This is the first time they've looked at each other in three weeks, and Rae couldn't help but notice how good Warren looked without all his hair in his face. She quickly shook away that thought and remembered the real reason she was here.

"Well?" he asked impatiently.

"Why are you like this?" she asked, swallowing a lump in her throat.

"Like what?" he snapped.

She winced. "Like that," she said, wanting both to slap him and hug him at the same time. _What's wrong with me? _she thought. "Well?" she imitated his impatience.

For a moment, he said nothing; his silence drove her crazy. After a few seconds, he took a deep breath and stared right into her eyes. "Why do you like him?" he asked seriously.

She racked her brain for a minute; why does she like who? Lash—she had completely forgotten about him. "Oh, my God!" she said disbelievingly. "That's why you've been acting like a total ass?" She stood up, ignoring the stares from the employees in the kitchen. _He _is _jealous. _At that moment, Rae did something she thought she would never do in a million years: she hit her best friend. She punched him square in the jaw, using all of the strength she could muster. He stumbled backwards, mostly from shock, Rae couldn't hit very hard.

Rae turned and stormed out the door; she hadn't taken two steps outside when Warren grabbed her arms. He was so angry his skin was burning hot. Rae could feel her skin burning underneath the heat of his hands. She pulled her arms away, looking at the handprint-shaped burns on her arms. "Don't touch me," she said, lightly touching the tender skin on her arms. "Were you jealous?" Rae asked, tears of anger welling up in her eyes.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"About Lash," Rae said as coldly as possible.

"No, I was nev—"

"I mean, I know you don't like him," Rae interrupted; she didn't want him to get a word in this conversation. "But I've tried to be all buddy-buddy with all the bitchy girls I don't' like that you decide to date. Can't you just tolerate him?"

"No," he said simply, shaking his head. "I can't because he's just—"

"God, Warren," she said softly. "I hate you," more tears began to fall down her cheeks; she did nothing to stop them. He looked up, a look of pain on his face. "I never thought I would say that to you, but I don't know how else to put it," she looked down. "I _hate _you." She whispered. When he didn't say anything, she continued: "I don't care if you don't like him . . . I know you don't. But Warren, I am your best friend and I deserve better than that. I know you hate him," Warren was just getting angrier by every word that came out of her mouth. "I don't see why you just can't accept—"

"You know what you need to accept?" he interrupted, practically screaming now. "He's using you!"

Rae felt like she was just punched in the stomach. "That's low," she said, more tears falling now. Warren threw his hands in the air and yelled in frustration. "War, that is really, really low," she started to walk away but turned back to face him. "How'd you come up with that lie, huh?"

"Rae, come on!" Warren yelled, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her.

"Why do you want to ruin this for me?" her voice cracked slightly.

"Rae," he said softly. He took a deep breath: "I heard them talking one day."

"Who's 'they'?" Rae asked, forgetting her sadness and getting angry now.

He leaned against the wall of the Paper Lantern, "Lash and Speed," he looked at her icy eyes. "And Gwen and Penny."

She couldn't take it anymore. She turned and walked away, leaving Warren alone.

He wasn't going to let her blame him like this. He ran up to her and pulled her back. "Why are you being so stupid?!" She pushed his arms away. "None of this would be happening right now if you just listened to me!"

"How can I listen when _you don't talk to me_?!" she spat. "If you would've talked to me in the first place, we could've worked things out."

"I don't know what your problem is—"

**"My problem?" **that was the last straw. Remember that thing she did before that she thought she'd never do? Well, she did it again: she punched Warren hard in the chest, adding a little electricity this time.

"Goodbye, Warren," she said and walked off, leaving him lying on the ground _alone. _


	9. Visions and Dreams

"You shouldn't have done that," Lash said to Rae when she told him about Warren. "It just fucks things up." He put his arm around her shoulders and gave a quick squeeze.

"He's my friend," she said simply. "My best friend; I have to fix things."

"Come on," he said, helping her up. "I'll take you home."

Rae stood on her toes and kissed him softly on the lips. "Thanks." She said quietly. Lash dropped her off in front of her house and she went inside, said good-night to her parents and spent the next 2 hours trying to sleep. After tossing and turning, she fell into a deep, vision-filled sleep:

It was lunch time in her vision, 12:16 to be exact (Rae always took note of the time). Will was fighting with someone, but Rae didn't know who, and all of a sudden, he lifted a table above his head and threw it. This scene just played over and over in Rae's head until her mother woke her up at 6:00 the next morning.

"Hey Will, guess what?" Rae asked him at the bus stop.

"What?" he asked tiredly.

"I had a vision last night," she started.

"So?"

"So, I think you're gonna get your powers."

His entire mood changed. "Really?" She nodded happily. "How? When? What did you see?"

"Slow down, kiddo," the bus pulled up and Rae sat in her usual seat behind Will and Layla. "Well it was in the cafeteria, obviously," Rae said when the bus was safely in the air. "And you were holding a table above your head."

"And?" Will asked anxiously.

"And what?" Rae shrugged. "That's all I got."

"Jeez," he sighed and turned back around.

"Well I'm sorry my visions don't happen fast enough for you."

Today was a special day: the first day of Save the Citizen. They started playing first period and were going to finish after lunch and Lash and Speed, the undefeated team from last year, were dominating as usual.

"Ramirez, Jones," Coach Boomer announced. "You've failed to save your citizen." Lash and Speed exchanged high-fives. "Pick your next opponents," he said to the seniors.

"We pick Davis," Lash said smiling at Rae, who returned the smile with daggers in her eyes.

The two conversed for a minute while Rae went to the locker room. "And Peace." Speed said. Rae froze and looked back at Lash who just shrugged.

They silently walked to the locker room to put on their gear. Everyone in school had seen the cold attitudes the two showed towards each other and could all feel the tension. Rae stood, waiting for him, and making sure she exposed her shoulders where his fiery hands had burned her. He stared at the handprint-shaped burns on her shoulder and cringed, he then looked down at his chest, making Rae remember the electricity burn she had given him. She sighed and the two walked into the gym.

"Lash, Speed," Boomer said. "Heroes or Villains?"

"Villains," Speed said matter-of-factly.

"Of course," Warren muttered.

"Heroes ready?" Warren nodded. "Villains?" Speed and Lash nodded. "Go!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Speed ran into Rae and sent her flying into one of the plexi-glass walls. Warren turned to get Speed but he was pulled down by Lash. Rae stood up and threw a bolt of electricity in Speed's direction, missing him completely. Speed ran at her again and her body was coursing with electricity; he hit her and went down, shaking from the bolt. Lash had his hand around Warren's throat, holding him high in the air. Flames erupted from Warren's hands and he grabbed Lash's arm, burning his skin. Lash let Warren go, but Warren didn't let go. Lash was pulling at Warren's arm and trying to get away, but the pyro wouldn't give in.

The smell of burning flesh filled the gym and Rae did the only thing she could think of: she ran at Warren, the adrenaline giving her strength, and tackled Warren. She caught him off guard and pushed him to the ground. Lash recoiled his hand as quickly as possible and Speed ran over, helping his friend to the nurse's office. Rae stood up, watching Coach Boomer pulling him off to Principal Powers' office; Layla ran down and walked Rae to the nurse.

Rae lay down on a bed in the nurse's office, her head bleeding from hitting the wall, and looked at Lash's arm, wrapped in gauze, blood seeping through. She laid her head on the pillow, 'some friend,' she thought. 'Best friend,' she closed her eyes. For the first time in a long time, Rae had a dream about her father.

She was 12 years old, Warren was 13, and Elise was 16. Elise had picked her up from school and Warren came over while she went to work at the grocery store. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary: Rae and Warren were home, doing homework, watching the dog, while her mother and Elise were at work. But something in the air wasn't right, Rae could even feel it. The air felt like _static. _She looked out her front window, 'it's probably just a storm,' she thought, seeing the dark sky.

Warren was telling Rae how to do her math homework, but she just couldn't pay attention to him. She couldn't ignore the ominous feeling she was getting. She didn't even notice he had gotten up until he sat back down.

"Rae?" he asked, moving a hand in front of her eyes.

"Huh?" she shook her head, clearing her mind.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, looking back at her homework. "I can't concentrate." She decided, and threw her pencil down on the floor. "Want some food?" Warren agreed and the two went in the kitchen, making some popcorn and going back in the living room.

"Did we turn that on?" Warren asked, motioning to the now turned-on television. Rae shook her head, she racked her brain to try and remember if they did.

"No, we didn't," She said, her heart pounding. A flash of lightning caught her attention and she sighed. "It's probably just the storm." She said, and it seemed to calm Warren down too. She turned back to her book when something upstairs was knocked over. She looked over and saw Muffin, sitting up, ears perked, staring at the stairs. Rae's heart was hammering now.

"Did you leave a window open?" Warren asked, looking scared too. "It's kinda windy outside."

"Wow," Rae laughed.

"Why don't you go and check?" Warren asked, pushing her towards the stairs.

"Not alone." She grabbed Warren's semi-long hair and pulled him upstairs. The two went into Elise's room and saw the curtains whipping around frantically from the wind. She closed the window and picked up the lamp that had been knocked over. They checked all the other windows, went back downstairs, and attempted to re-start their homework for about the 10th time.

Rae had been working for about a minute when she saw something move out of the corner of her eye. She stood up and looked around. "I swear to God, Warren, I'm going crazy." She saw nothing in the room except Warren and the dog, who was sleeping. Something moved in the kitchen and Warren stood up too, moving into the kitchen. A hand grabbed Rae's shoulder; she screamed and wheeled around, looking up at a man with the same bleach blonde hair and ice blue eyes as her.

"Dad?"


	10. Memories and Apologies

Rae shot out of the bed in the nurse's office, felt the pain in her head and fell right back down. She sat in agony for a few minutes, pain searing through her skull. Her mom quietly came through the door and sat by her daughter's side. "Hello, mother," Rae used her usual greeting to her mom. Her mom just smiled and kissed her on the forehead. "Let's get you home." They slowly walked to the car, Rae telling her mom what had happened that day. Little did Rae know Lash, Gwen, Speed, and Penny were in the next room, having a conversation of their own.

"You need to do this now," Gwen whispered to Lash.

"I can't." He answered, looking slightly ashamed.

"Well sure you can," Speed hit Lash on the shoulder. "You got her wrapped around your finger."

"Yeah, you can't back down now." Penny stated.

"I can," Lash started, "and I will." He finished with a scared glance at Gwen.

"To hell you can't," she said, moving closer to him. "We need you to do this, hippie girl won't let me anywhere near Will, so Rae's our only chance." With a defeated look, Lash nodded slowly, confirming their plan.

At home, Rae slept some more, the memory of the run-in with her father finishing in her dream:

_"Dad?" she asked, backing up into Warren who stood his ground. _

_ "Rae," he said with a pleasant smile on his face. "You've grown up." He moved towards his daughter. _

_ "What are you doing here?" Rae asked, feeling even more static in the air as her father tried to move closer. _

_ "Don't be scared," he said, and Rae did indeed feel very scared. "I just wanted to come by and check on things, see that you're being taken care of." His eyes flickered to Warren. "I see your sister isn't here. Or your mother."_

_ "They're working." Rae said, building up courage. "Mom actually works to support her family, not that an ass like you would understand that." The 12-year-old snapped at her father. _

_ He looked angry. "Now I know I raised you better than that." He stepped forward, hand out, electricity coursing through his veins, moving towards the two adolescents. _

_Warren stepped forward, flames erupting from his arms. "You're not wanted here." He said, thinking of what he would say if this was his father coming back. "All you do is cause trouble, so why don't you just leave?"_

_Erik Givens (aka Thunder hawk) was very angry. It was never a good thing to get him angry because he has a very short temper. "I've got so much trouble in my life right now," Erik said with an insane smile on his face. "I don't need some punk ass kid screwing this up for me." With that, his body coursed with electricity and his hands glowed with the force of the power. Warren ran at him, arms ablaze, but he was immediately shot down by a shock from Erik, leaving Rae alone and vulnerable. _

_ Erik charged towards her and she braced herself for the impact, not knowing anything else to do, but the hit never came. But the sound that came was much worse: a scream erupted from Warren's throat as he blocked Rae from her father, taking the bolt of electricity that was meant for her. A cry fell from Rae's lips as she rushed forward, anger and electricity coursing in her blood, and pulled her father away. She put as much power as she could into her hands and gave Erik the shock of his life, dazing him for a little while._

_ She crawled to her best friend's side, trying to get him to move. "War, come on," she urged, pulling him into the kitchen. She had finally pulled him into the middle of the kitchen when she noticed that someone was trying to come in the back door. Her heart raced in her chest, thinking that it was Warren's father coming to Erik's aid. After a second, she realized that this person had a key to the door; it must be her mother coming home early. _

_ "Mom!" she shrieked, running to the door. She threw the door open, relieved that it was her mother at the back door. _

_ "What's goin--?" she started to say but stopped when she saw Erik lying on the floor. "Rae, call the police." And she did. Her mother made sure that Erik didn't go anywhere while Rae got the police on the phone. Soon enough, they came and took Erik away, leaving the Davis family with a little peace. _

Rae awoke with the sun beaming through her window, lighting her room. She stretched and groaned, holding her aching head. Her clock read Saturday, 11:30 am. She smelled food and her stomach growled, giving her motivation to get up. She trudged down the stairs and was surprised to see her mom standing in the kitchen.

"Morning, honey," she said, putting a plate of eggs and bacon on the table.

"Hi," Rae said, confused. "Shouldn't you be at work?" She took a piece of bacon and started munching.

"I called off sick today," she smiled. "Sit. Eat." Rae did eat, she ate a lot. Her mom laughed as she spooned more eggs on her plate.

"What?" Rae smiled. "I haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday." Rae thanked her mom for breakfast, took some painkillers and went back upstairs, the memories of her dream still on her mind. She sighed, thinking of the days she and Warren used to spend all the time. They never fought. "I should call him," Rae thought out loud. She then decided to be the bigger person and apologize.

She dialed his number nervously, kind of hoping he wouldn't answer…three rings gone by, still no answer…three more and his voicemail picked up.

'_Hey,' _the recording started, _'I'm not here, leave a message,' _the boring recording ended. _Beep._

"Hey War, it's me," Rae said, picking at a loose piece of wallpaper in her room. "I just wanted to say sorry for blowing up at you the other day…um…" she sighed. "I actually had a dream last night; remember the time my dad came back and you saved my ass? Yeah." She laughed. "Look, I don't wanna fight anymore but I know even if we are fighting, I still got your back…And you probably have mine, too? Well I gotta go, so, I'm sorry."


	11. Revealed

At about 2:00, Rae put a towel in a bag and headed downstairs. "Mom?" she whispered to her mom, sleeping on the couch. She grabbed a napkin from the kitchen and wrote the words:

Mom, went on a walk. Rae.

She put the napkin on the table and noiselessly walked out the front door, heading to the lake. She took a deep breath and soaked in the beautiful fall day: blue, cloudless sky, luckily it was still warm. All of the past days' events seemed clear out of Rae's mind as she walked down the street, humming or whistling as she pleased.

She pushed back the leaves in front of the path on the way to the lake and squinted as the clear blue water reflected the sunlight. She practically ran to the water; kicking off her flip flops, she threw herself into the water, sighing. Wading about knee-deep into the water, she shivered a little and adjusted her usual Saturday attire of basketball shorts and a tank top. She felt free, away from all the troubles of boys and friends and school. She walked around the water for a few minutes, watching the tiny fish swim around her. Once her fingers started to prune she called it a day and dried off with the towel she pulled from the bag.

Shoving the now wet towel back in the bag, Rae put on her purple flip flops and turned to the path leading back to civilization.

3:17 was the time when she got back and on her screen flashed:

New Message

From: Lash

She smiled as Lash's picture appeared as well.

Hang tonight? 7:30?

Just like Lash: short, sweet, and to the point. Rae responded, accepting the invitation. She looked at the table where she had left the note for her mother and found another note there:

Went to store, should be back by four. Love, Mom.

Rae went upstairs and turned on the water in the shower to warm it up. She threw her shorts in the hamper in the corner, discarded the rest of her clothing and stepped into the warm shower. She washed her hair, careful around her sore head. She stepped out of the shower, feeling refreshed, and put on a clean pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

For absolutely no reason at all, Rae was in such a good mood. She cleaned up the kitchen and her room and, as promised, at 4:00, her mom walked in the door with bags of groceries. She noticed her daughter's good mood and laughed.

"What?" Rae asked, putting some milk in the fridge.

"Why are you so happy?" she handed Rae some cereal. She told her mother of her walk to the lake and her plans with Lash tonight. "I don't want you staying out too late tonight, hun," she said, shaking her head. "You're still hurt."

"Come on Margaret," Rae laughed, "you're starting to sound like my mom."

Rae finished helping her mom put the groceries away and went upstairs to get ready for her 'date.' She braided her still-wet hair and put on her favorite pair of jeans. "Want me to drive you?" her mom asked when she walked down the stairs at 7:00.

"Nah," Rae said. Her mom gave her a skeptical glance. "I'll be fine." Another disapproving look came across her mother's face. "_Really, _I feel fine."

"If you say so," Rae smiled and kissed her mother goodbye. "Be home by 11:00!" she called after her, earning a thumbs-up in return.

It only took about 10 minutes to walk to Lash's from her house so Rae walked a little slower; turning onto his street ten minutes early anyway. Approaching his house, Rae saw other cars parked out front and sighed. _They're all here, _she thought. Disappointed that she wasn't going to be spending time alone with her boyfriend, she walked slower still as she approached the house. She was almost to the front steps when she heard voices inside.

"You got her eatin' out of the palm of your hand, man," Rae heard Speed say and the rest laughed. She stood silently on the porch, listening to the four seniors' "private" conversation. She heard Lash a little uneasily, he sounded uncomfortable.

Gwen laughed. "Since those sidekicks are so protective of their little friend _Stronghold_," she spat his name. "Little Rae is all the help we need, now that Warren's out of the picture." The group shared a quiet laugh again.

"You sure she doesn't know?" Multiple Penny's asked.

Lash laughed more surely this time. "She doesn't suspect a thing."

Rae had half a mind to storm inside and kick all their asses, and she almost did. But she decided to play it a little cooler. She quietly walked down the steps and then walked up again, making sure they heard her footsteps. As soon as she did this, the talking ceased. Rae knocked on the door and put a pleasant look on her face.

"Hey, Babe," Lash said as he opened the door and kissed her quick on the lips.

"Hey," she smiled despite what she had just heard. "How's your arm?" he had taken the bandages off so the burned flesh was exposed . . . and disgusting.

He shrugged. "It's okay," he put his arm up and started examining the burn.

Rae grimaced, "you should cover that up . . . it's disgusting." She laughed and hit him playfully on his good arm.

They rejoined the rest in the living room and the fun began. They chatted endlessly for awhile, mostly about homecoming and who they were going to take.

"You know, Rae," Gwen started, staring down the little freshman. "I really don't have anyone to go with, but I was thinking," she paused. Rae looked around, everyone was staring at her. "You think you could introduce me to Will Stronghold?"

Rae's stomach turned—this was her chance. She cleared her throat. "Why?"

"Why what?" Gwen asked.

"Why do you want to take _Will?" _

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked disbelievingly. "Why _not _Will?"

"He's just a dorky sidekick," Rae said, trying to get her attention off of Will. "He doesn't even have powers." Rae added nonchalantly.

"So what? That doesn't matter." Gwen said, angry that Rae was arguing with her: no one argued with her.

"Why the sudden interest in the freshman with no powers?" Rae stood up. "Do you only want him 'cause you can't have him? 'Cause all his friends won't let you near him?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You wonder why his 'sidekick' friends won't let you near him when it should be clear: they hate you. All of you."

"Where is this coming from?" Gwen yelled. Lash and Speed tried to separate the two but they just pulled away.

"Is that the only reason you kept me around? So you could get to Will?" Rae was yelling at Lash now. "And now that Warren's _'out of the picture'_ you think I'll fall for these lies now_?" _Rae started for the door.

Lash grabbed her arm. "Whoa, Rae, where are you getting this?" he asked, even though he already knew.

"Don't even lie," she shook her head. "I heard you talking." She walked out the door and Lash followed her, stopping her from leaving.

"Is that the only reason you ever started talking to me?" the tears were welling up in her eyes. He didn't answer. "You only wanted me around so you could get to Will?" Nothing but silence. She turned to leave and Lash didn't stop her this time; she walked home, letting the tears fall.


End file.
